6 ways to market your local business online (beyond Google maps)

Local businesses have lots of great opportunities to use digital channels to their advantage. Here are a few actionable ways to promote your local business online apart from the most important (and the most obvious) one: Getting verified on Google Maps. Most of the time I try to avoid making very general statements when it comes to small companies. That is because the ways that businesses market to their audiences are not held back by expectation; they have every opportunity to apply innovation and creativity to their efforts. However, I do feel able to make at least one sweeping statement: online visibility is crucial for local businesses. While you can also focus on IRL advertisements, your efforts will be far less impressive than the online equivalent. Evidence for the effectiveness of online visibility comes from Google’s findings that 50% of all Google smartphone users who searched for a local business went there within 24 hours. In spite of this, as many as 60% of small businesses don’t have a website, with half of those feeling they are too small to need one… what?! This is a huge mistake. Businesses should be spending more time than ever marketing online, not just on Yelp or Google Maps, either. Here are six areas to focus on if you want to see real results. 1. Show off your knowledge of the local landscape Writing local guides is perfect for showing your knowledge, getting social media shares and promoting your local business to an audience that cares about the city…